A diverse workforce improves access to health care and better meets the needs of an increasingly diverse patient population. To increase diversity in women's health, Penn Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has successfully launched a summer pipeline program for underrepresented minorities in undergraduate programs.
The program, led by Abike James, MD, MPH, offers comprehensive exposure to key aspects in the field, including clinical and research work. It is welcoming its second cohort of students this summer.
"The students spend eight weeks with us, and each student is paired with at least one mentor. With guidance from a research mentor, each student completes a research project and presents the project and their findings," Dr. James says. "Along the way, they also get exposure to key elements of obstetrics and gynecology. They spend at least one or two days on the labor floor, where they observe deliveries. They observe ultrasound, spend time in family planning, observe my general OB/GYN practice and spend time in the operating room. The shadowing is comprehensive and introduces them to all aspects of the field."
Pipeline students also work with a student coordinator, a first-year Penn medical student from an underrepresented population. "The coordinator provides near-peer mentorship, arranging social activities, answering questions and arranging a panel on how to get into medical school," Dr. James explains.
The pipeline program is one of many initiatives the department is using to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in health care.
Recently, in fact, Penn leadership has demonstrated its commitment to this area by tying executive compensation to health equity goals. The initiative bases 10 to 40 percent of compensation for more than 600 senior leaders on health equity goals. The OB/GYN department honed in on hemorrhage reduction, successfully reducing it by about 29 percent in Black women, says Chair Elizabeth A. Howell, MD, MPP. The department is also focusing on reducing postpartum readmissions and ED visits among persons of color.
Dismantling Inequities and Systemic Problems to Elevate Lives (DISPEL), is the departments multi-disciplinary health equity task force chaired by Dr. James and Dr. Sarita Sonalkar. DISPEL has introduced a disparity index, which reviews complication data at the institutional level to identify disparities and track progress over time. "At regular intervals, we review data regarding complications and break it down by race. Then using an index, we calculate a disparity score. Over time, this allows us to identify whether we have a persistent disparity in an area, explore what might be at the root of it and track our progress over time," Dr. James says.
DISPEL has also organized a department-wide anti-racism book club and implemented a new digital platform called Lift Every Voice. "On the social-media-like platform, people can anonymously report and comment on observed incidents of bias or racism," Dr. James explains. "The goal is to see which stories need attention and then present them to leadership to catalyze response."
For its focus on these important issues, the department was a recipient of the 2023 Perelman School of Medicine, Office of Inclusion and Diversity, Champion in Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Award: An award of Excellence.